Clive Palmer ‘tried to corrupt’ Queensland deputy premier Jeff Seeney

SUPREME Court documents reveal a conversation in which Clive Palmer allegedly tried to “corrupt” Queensland’s deputy premier.

A TENSE conversation in which Clive Palmer allegedly tried to “corrupt” Queensland’s Deputy Premier while demanding preferential treatment for a massive coalmining venture is reconstructed in Supreme Court legal documents.

Mr Palmer allegedly said, “I have paid a lot of money to get you guys elected and I have a lot more money to continue to do that in the future”, and told Jeff Seeney to behave like two of the National Party’s 1980s heavyweights — Joh Bjelke-Petersen and Russ Hinze — who became improperly close to business interests.

Mr Seeney, who has been at loggerheads with Mr Palmer since infuriating the resources ­tycoon by ruling against his coal proposals, gave a detailed legal account yesterday of an April 2012 meeting. The rebuff of Mr Palmer over his Galilee Basin ­assets was a catalyst for the establishment of the Palmer United Party, which vows to destroy the Liberal National Party in Queensland.

Mr Seeney, the defendant along with Premier Campbell Newman in separate defamation proceedings by Mr Palmer, disclosed that the tycoon said at an Executive Building meeting: “I’ve done all the hard work for you. All you have to do is walk this down to the parliament, put this into the parliament and we can then start very quickly.”

Mr Seeney’s legal reply adds that Mr Palmer told him: “We have $20 billion from our Chinese backers and we are ready go. This will give us the rights to develop Port Palmer and Abbot Point and a rail corridor for the coal. We will create 10,000 jobs.”

Mr Seeney said that Mr Palmer wanted to bypass all the normal and proper assessment and ­approval processes “and sought special treatment for (his) Waratah Coal’s proposal” so that it could be “approved without delay” or competition.

After Mr Seeney pushed the document back across the table and said, “Clive, we can’t do business like that”, Mr Palmer allegedly spoke of former premier Bjelke-Petersen and minister Hinze, both of whom were embroiled in corruption probes in the 1980s.

Mr Seeney claims that Mr Palmer said: “You need to be more like them. You need to be more like Russ Hinze. You need to cut through the process, the ­bureaucracy just holds things up.”

Mr Seeney: “Clive, you have to understand things are different. Any short-cutting of proper processes would threaten the government. We are not going to be like that. The political landscape has changed. Media scrutiny has changed. Bjelke-Petersen and Hinze would not survive today.”

He said Mr Palmer replied: “I have been good for the government. I’ve supported your fellows for a long time. I have paid a lot of money to get you guys elected and I have a lot more money to continue to do that in the future. I’ve supported individual candidates, I like to support candidates who understand how business works. I’ll continue to support candidates who know how to do business.”

Mr Seeney said that he made it clear to Mr Palmer that the rules would be applied despite his generosity as a donor to the LNP, adding: “If we don’t do things properly we are both going to be in trouble. I want to be around for a long time and if we start cutting corners the way Russ Hinze did we won’t be here for very long.”

But Mr Palmer allegedly replied: “The other guys are Indian companies. They have no money. They won’t make it work. They are broke. They haven’t ever done anything for the government and they don’t have the money I have.”

Mr Seeney said he replied: “Mate, stop. That’s enough. You cannot say those things here. We’re not here to talk about campaign funding. That has nothing to do with it.”

The Crime and Corruption Commission has been examining whether Mr Palmer attempted to corrupt the Queensland government, following documents revealed in The Australian in June. Mr Palmer has repeatedly and strenuously denied wrongdoing and has accused Mr Seeney and Mr Newman of being corrupt.

Two months after the April 2012 meeting, Mr Seeney announced a policy decision that disadvantaged Mr Palmer’s coal interests. The Palmer United Party was formed soon afterwards.